Ephraim Hardcastle
BBC News anchor Simon McCoy, 56, met with a backlash last year after sarcastically dismissing news of the pregnant duchess of Cambridge’s due date. McCoy blundered yesterday when criticising Prince Harry for not wearing a tie at the Commonwealth day service at Westminster Abbey. redfaced McCoy later had to offer a ‘quick apology’ to viewers, adding: ‘They were old pictures, they weren’t pictures from today.’ Oh dear!
SIR Ken Olisa, 66, Lady Judge’s deputy at the Institute of Directors before she stepped down after racism and sexism accusations, has been hugely supportive of his old boss, saying her fall from grace is a coup based on jealousy. It’s a brave move getting involved in such a public spat. As Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, he’s the Queen’s man in the City. He’s also in line next month for the Queen’s highest award, the Order of the Garter.
SIr Ken dodd’s death comes only a year after he went to Buckingham Palace to receive his knighthood from Prince William. He sadly joins a list of those honoured too late in their lives, including Charlie Chaplin, knighted at 85, and dead at 88. Pg Wodehouse was knighted aged 93 in 1975 and died six weeks later. Paddington creator Michael Bond received a CBE aged 89, two years before he died. At least Olivia de Havilland, who received her damehood just short of her 101st birthday, is still with us.
APROPOS Sir Ken, friend and fellow Liverpudlian Jimmy Tarbuck wonders about the supreme Diddyman’s funeral, saying: ‘Doddy’s funeral is expected to be on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, probably Friday too, could continue on Saturday if he really over-runs.’
THE duchess of Cornwall, pictured, must be looking forward to a jolly gettogether with her friend gyles Brandreth, 70, on Friday when, as chancellor of Chester University, he confers a doctorate of letters on her (unkind wags suggest she is being honoured as the only senior royal who reads novels). Shortly before he became chancellor in 2016, Camilla did him a favour attending his celebration of Oscar Wilde’s 161st birthday party. And before her marriage, he produced the soupy Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair, for which he received help from the couple themselves. Why hasn’t he been gonged?
TAKING aim at the culinary offerings in the House of Commons, outspoken Tory MP Nadine Dorries, 60, complains: ‘The food here is disgusting – and it comes with mouse urine as a side. Most people wouldn’t give it to their dogs.’ Perhaps mercifully, only guide dogs are allowed in the Palace of Westminster.
BARRISTER geoffrey robertson, not nearly as publicity demented as his estranged wife Kathy Lette, manages some name-dropping in his memoir. describing a party thrown by actress Nicole Kidman, he says: ‘I took a glass of champagne proffered by a small chap whom I assumed was a hired waiter… I just did not recognise Tom Cruise.’